No Horse Wanted (25 page)

“It won’t be any fun without you.”

“And she’s going to your celebration,” Dr.
Larry said, surprising both of us. “Take my word for it. All your
horse will want to do tonight is sleep, Robin. It will stress him
out more if you’re hanging out in his stall for the next few hours.
It’s enough if you check in on him when you get home.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Hey, I’m the doctor, and that’s why I get
the big money.” He winked at me. “Besides, I’ll be back tomorrow to
take you with me on rounds, so we’ll make this guy our first
patient. Deal?”

“And your mother and I will pop down to see
him too,” Dad said. “Now, we’re taking over on chores. You and Jack
need to head for the house and get ready to go. We’ll be up in a
bit to take photos for the family album.”

I lingered by Twaziem to pet his neck and
breathe in his warm horsy odor. When I got home, I’d bring down my
sleeping bag and stay with him just to be on the safe side. He
sleepily nuzzled me, and I rubbed the blaze on his face. “No
carrots for you till Tuesday when your throat’s better. I’ll see
you later.”

Chapter Thirty

Sunday, October 20
^th
, 3:05 a.m.

The dance lasted till a little after one in
the morning. When I called home for the fifth time, Dad had just
come back from the barn. He said that Twaziem was sound asleep. If
I stopped phoning, then my parents might be able to go to bed too.
Bill and I went out for breakfast with the rest of our crowd. But,
when they headed off for late night bowling, we decided to go to my
house and the stable, with a brief stop by his place so he could
change clothes. He looked concerned when he came back to the car
where I waited.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I’ve misplaced my phone,” Bill said. “I
thought I must have left it at home, but it’s not in my room or the
car.”

“Where was the last place you saw it?” I
adjusted my seat belt. “Retrace your steps, and then you’ll be able
to find it.”

“Good idea.”

At my house, Bill headed down to the barn to
check on Twaziem while I went in to trade my dress for jeans and a
sweatshirt. Then, I grabbed a bag of chips and two colas as well as
my sleeping bag. I left a note so my folks would know we were down
with the horses and went to meet Bill.

* * * *

Monday, October
21
^st
, 5:10
p.m
.

As soon as Dad and I turned into the drive, I
saw the county cop car. “Give me a break. Why is he here? He said
he’d be back in a month, and it’s only been a couple weeks.”

“Well, let’s go find out what’s up.” Dad
turned off the motor. “I’m sure there’s a good reason.”

“I so don’t need this when Twaziem is off hay
until tomorrow. He’s going to lose weight and Officer Yardley will
notice.”

“Robbie, let’s go talk first. You can panic
afterwards.”

“Okay. Okay.” I climbed out of the car and
hurried in the direction of the barn. When I arrived, I saw the cop
standing outside Twaziem’s stall talking to Mom. “What’s going
on?”

“Nothing much.” Officer Yardley smiled at me.
“He’s gained weight, Robin. He’s looking pretty good.”

“So, why are you here?” I asked. “I still
have two more weeks to get more pounds on him and make him look
like a horse.”

“My boss sent me. Somebody posted a video of
Twaziem on the Internet, and it went viral. He had patches of
moving lice. I explained that you’d treated the horse for external
and internal parasites.” Officer Yardley shook his head. “But my
boss is catching it from his boss, and he’s hearing about it from
the county council members. I’m back to make sure that Twaziem is
continuing to improve.”

I caught my breath, remembering the first day
that Twaz arrived. He’d been covered with lice and Jack wouldn’t
let us put him in the barn until we deloused him. And Bill had
wanted to use his phone to take pictures. I wasn’t saying any of
that to the cop, but I was going to kill Bill as soon as I saw him.
He hadn’t put the video up. I knew that. Still, he’d taken the
pictures, and somehow he passed them on to whoever did post
them.

“He was a mess when we got him,” I said. “And
he’d obviously had lice for quite a while or they wouldn’t have
been so gross. Did you ever go after the Bartlett beasts? Dad and I
went to see Mrs. B and talk to her about Twaz. Her grandson bragged
about killing Twaz’s mom in front of him when he was only a couple
months old.”

Okay, that was a slight exaggeration. Caine
put the blame on Ashley, but hey, I was a teenage girl and I was
allowed to make the story more dramatic. “I wonder if they’d have
filmed him when he had lice.”

“Only one way to find out.” Officer Yardley
made a couple more notes. “I’m sorry folks, but I’ll have to come
see him every three or four days until the heat dies down.”

“Well, Robbie will run off her log sheets for
you,” Dad told him. “And when you talk to the veterinarian, you’ll
find out that Twaziem colicked after he was wormed.”

“You have to expect those kinds of reactions
dealing with an overload of worms,” Officer Yardley said, closing
his metal notebook. “His system needs to adjust to regular
care.”

“And he had choke over the weekend,” Mom
added. “That’s why he doesn’t have a lot of hay right now. We’ve
changed his feed.”

“Dr. Larry advised it,” I said. “He was here
to see Twaz yesterday.”

“And he’ll continue to see him quite
frequently throughout the next year. Rescue horses need that too.”
Officer Yardley smiled at us. “I’ll be in touch with him and the
farrier. Yes, Robin, I will follow up on the history of the horse
too. He’s doing well here, but if he’d had good care his entire
life, then you wouldn’t need to do so much of it.”

“Yeah, but if they’d taken care of him, I
wouldn’t have him.” I stepped up to rub Twaziem’s blaze when he
nickered at me. “No carrots until tomorrow, buddy.”

Once my folks escorted the cop from the barn,
I pulled out my cell and called Bill. He picked up right away, and
I asked. “Where did you find your phone?”

“At the tux shop. I must have put it down
while I was renting my suit. Why? What’s going on?”

I leaned against Twaziem’s stall. “Remember
the first day he got here?”

“Sure, he was a mess.”

“My mom told you not to video him. Did you do
it anyway?”

Utter silence and I knew for sure. Fury
boiled up inside me. “You took a video of Twaz’s lice and somebody
got it off your phone, then posted it on the Internet. The Animal
Control guy was just here, and we’re back on probation again.
Thanks a lot! I so don’t need to deal with that cop.”

The silence grew until it deafened me.

Finally, Bill said, “I’m sorry, Robin. I
didn’t post a video. I have no idea who did. What can I do?”

“Oh, I think dropping dead works.” And I
ended the call.

* * * *

Tuesday, October
22
^nd
, 7:10 a.m.

I felt like the center of attention while I
waited for Vicky in the Commons. It wasn’t in a good way, either.
No, I wasn’t a cross-country star today who was leading her team to
an undefeated season. People were poking each other and whispering
about me. I wanted to jump up and scream that I saved Twaziem. I
didn’t torture him.

Vicky came across the room and hugged me
before she sat down. “Jack told me about the video. I checked it
out, and it looks really bad, Robin. What are you going to do?”

“There’s nothing I can do,” I said. “I
contacted the site and asked them to take it down, but they haven’t
yet.”

“They won’t when it’s getting so many hits,”
Vicky said. “I wish he looked better. If he had gained all the
weight that he will in the next ten months, you could put up a new
video showing that.”

“He is clean,” I pointed out. “He doesn’t
have any lice now.”

“Yeah, but even stupid people will see his
ribs and hips,” Vicky said. “At least Twaziem is back on hay this
morning.”

“That’s true.” I stirred my mocha, wishing I
could come up with a brilliant idea. “I fought with Bill because he
was dumb enough to take that video of the lice and then let
somebody get it off his phone.”

“I know. Jack told me. Bill feels really bad
about it, Robin.”

“He should. He’s too freaking stupid to
live.”

“Who is?” Dani dropped into the seat next to
me. “What happened? How did that video get on the Internet?”

Between sips of her latte, Vicky brought her
up to speed. Dani listened, then said, “Lady looks almost exactly
like Twaziem. We could do a video of her and put it up, pretend
it’s him.”

“It won’t work,” I said. “He has a blaze and
she has a star and snip. And they’re two different breeds. They’re
almost the same color, but they’re two different body types. I
appreciate the thought. I just have to think of something
else.”

“Yeah. It’s too bad you don’t know who did it
because then we could so get them.” She waved at Harry as he came
in the cafeteria, and he headed toward us. “You do know that he’s a
total geek, don’t you?”

“Harry is?” I stared at her.

“I’m what?” Harry dropped into the chair on
the other side of Dani. “So, who hates you bad enough to put up
that video, Robin?”

“We don’t know, but you need to take it
down,” Dani told him. “And then you need to create a different
video using the pictures people have taken of Twaziem since he was
rescued and post that. You’ll use music and add in voice-overs from
the vet, the shoer, and the trainer.”

“And I suppose you want me to play detective
and get the guy who did the dirty deed too, all while I wear a
superhero cape.” Harry looked interested, not put off by the idea.
“I can do that, but you have to do something for me, Robin.”

“What? My folks won’t let me have that blue
Mustang.”

“Brenna wants me to take over more of the
mechanical work and that means we need somebody to detail the cars.
Will you stop in and see her about it? It’s not that many hours,
about twenty a week, but we do pay ten bucks an hour.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “I’ll swing by after
practice today.”
The first bell rang, and we got up to head for English class.
Olivia met us on the way. “So, when are we kicking Caine’s
butt?”

“What?” I stared at her. “Why would I?”

“The word around Mount Pilchuck is that he
put up a nasty video about you to make trouble so we’d choose
somebody else to lead the cross-country team.”

“How did you hear about that?” Vicky asked.
“I know people who go there, but we hardly talk anymore.”

“From Cedar’s cousins,” Olivia said. “Her
family had a barbeque last night, and they bragged to her that we’d
lose this week. When she went on the Internet, she found out it was
all about your horse. She told me this morning that Caine did it to
sabotage our team, and she thought we should keep you as our
leader.”

“I hadn’t planned to quit,” I said. “Coach
tells us, winners never quit and quitters never win. We are so
winning the meet this Thursday. Like my grandma says, ‘We’ll teach
them to suck eggs,’ and Caine will be sorry he ever messed with
me.”

Olivia grinned at me. “I knew you’d nail him
and we’re helping.”

“Why?” Vicky asked.

“Because we are a team,” Olivia said, “and
when you go after one of us, all of us get you.”

“Well, we’re not on cross-country,” Dani told
her, “but Harry and I are helping.”

I lifted my chin, determined to act strong
even when all I wanted to do was break down and bawl. I had
wonderful friends, and from now on, I’d remember to appreciate
them. In class, I sat down and pulled out my comp book before I
looked at the writing prompt on the board.

Were you ever accused of something that you
didn't do? How did it make you feel and what did you do about
it?

Chapter Thirty-One

Friday, October 25
^th
, 4:45 p.m.

While I groomed Twaziem, I told him all about
the week. We’d kicked butt at the meet yesterday. Lincoln High
remained undefeated. Harry got together with his geek squad
friends, and they’d taken down the video. He tried to explain the
details to me, but I didn’t get it. I truly didn’t speak the guy’s
language. Luckily, Dani did. The two of them had already started
compiling pics and interviews for the new video they were doing of
Twaziem. Dani would visit next week to take more photos of my
horse. I’d stopped in at the car lot, and Brenna hired me to wash
cars, starting tomorrow afternoon.

“I guess I’ll have to start cutting up apples
for you,” I told Twaziem. “I’m still pissed at Bill for being a
screw-up.”

“Must be nice to be perfect.” Jack lined up
his stall mucking tools in the aisle. “If you put him out, I’ll do
his stall. Are you coming to the game tonight, Princess Robin?”

“Yes, but only to cheer you on, not your ‘too
stupid to live’ buddy.”

“Don’t do me any favors.” Jack passed me the
training halter and lead. “I told Bill he should hold out for a
human being instead of waiting for you to grow up.”

I tossed my head. “Shove it. You, your horse,
and the little blue dog that follows behind.”

* * * *

Sunday, October
27
^th
, 5:10 p.m.

Another day working with the vet, another
colic. I was amazed at how often horses had trouble with their
feed, but like Dr. Larry said, there were so many causes, ranging
from bad hay to stress. This time a horse up in Darrington had been
overworked at a Saturday show, then had trouble with his feed the
next day. I waved goodbye to the vet and headed for the house.